LTGR Ep. #45 - “Stepping into Virtual Worlds”
Susan and Dan talk with John Walber and Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes (LT) about virtual worlds. This is an update from a prior episode on Second Life (SL).
SPECIAL NOTE: Alliance Library System, in cooperation with LearningTimes, is offering one-day conferences exploring the possibilities of using virtual worlds to teach history and to promote its appreciation. The conferences, titled “Stepping into History: Exploring the Past through Virtual Worlds” are held entirely in the virtual world of Second Life, allowing participants to attend from any location with a computer and a broadband internet connection. Registration is available at the website www.steppingintohistory.org. Conference dates: June 10, 2008 and June 24, 2008.
Show Notes:
Susan and Dan talk with John Walber and Jonathan Finkelstein of LearningTimes (LT) about virtual worlds. This is an update from a prior episode on Second Life (SL). Susan mistakenly described LearningTimes’ involvement in virtual worlds as ‘creepin’g, when in fact, they’ve been establishing a presence for almost two years.
Susan recently read … “Second Chance for Second Life“, which stated:
“In reality, Second Life doesn’t work. As the firm itself admits, the system crashes constantly and the steep learning curve for anyone entering Second Life puts off all but the hardcore.”
LearningTimes comes from a background focused on live interaction and how that relates to learning and asks the question, “When is it supposed to be live?” Jonathan says we are starting to see a tipping point of more meaningful live events online in webcasting, but we’re not quite there in the 3D virtual worlds.
John humorously describes online SL conferences; Susan admits those sleeping avatars might be her!
Recently, Lancelot (online language learning) took a series of museum field trips in SL with John and Jonathan.
Virtual Starry Night (VanGogh)
International Spaceflight Museum
If you are an organization, how much do you want to spend for land, development, sims, etc.? This has led them to look at stand alone 3D environments.
Susan describes the challenges for income-challenged part-timer, and John points out the community nature of SL. LearningTimes.org maintains Squirrel Island, a SL location members can use for free. The Green Room has its own space!
A new world to consider: Open Croquet movement, a way to do stand alone worlds that can launch off your web site (kind of like the Moodle of virtual worlds).
LT is finding all sorts of ways to use tools. For example, Jonathan describes the use of Google Sketch Up as the New York Transit Museum and Center for Architecture asked students to develop a new museum entrance that is handicap accessible.
Qwaq first commercial application of open croquet. LT is working with Qwaq to offer live demos every other week. To learn more about demos, co-sponsored with Alliance Library System (out of central Illinois), go to http://www.learningtimes.net/3d.
What are some ways LearningTimes would encourage educators to use virtual worlds? Jonathan gives the example of mock trials. Anything that involves exploring something you can’t do or see from your desktop. John describes the use of immersive environments for using languages, going through customs, interacting in a town, and so on. He then tells about training for homeland security.
Listeners, tell us whatever virtual worlds you’re involved with!
The demos are available at http://www.learningtimes.net/qwaqdemo and keep up at http://www.learningtimes.net/3d.
NOTE: Check out ALS and LearningTimes’ one-day conferences exploring the possibilities of using virtual worlds to teach history and to promote its appreciation. Registration is available at the website www.steppingintohistory.org. Conference dates: June 10, 2008 and June 24, 2008.
You can respond using the “Comments” link below or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada). Join us!
June 6th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
[…] Via Learning Times Green Room: […]
June 10th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Thanks for a very interesting program! I’m drawn to qwaq over second life because of the lack of attention to the avatars. I don’t want to be burdened with the learning curve for getting around and the need to form, dress, etc., even though I have been reassured that this is a rather short development and learning process. I would rather just interact and qwaq seems to do a good job of that. I have attended one of the Learning Times programs on qwaq and you’ve given me the reminder to return to that program for some more “immersion”.
Alan Selig
July 11th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I took the bait and finally went into Second Life to see what the buzz was about. This podcast gave me the motivation to do it. I found getting around to be a very quick learn, but the personalization of the avatar is far too ponderous a process. Something is missing for me…I don’t get the point of it. Then, I quickly discovered an awful lot of …..nothing.
SL as a venue for conferencing has some merit I suppose but I can’t see how it is better than easier, more convenient models.
I haven’t done the museums yet, so I can’t say there is nothing worth spending my time on, but so far, why spend the time?